Monday, October 26, 2015

In the first
decades of the 20th century, the norm was for men and women to have
their own separate clubs. This did not
mean, however, that the clubs for the opposite sexes might not have similar
purposes. Such was the case with The
Cliff Dwellers and Cordon Clubs.

A well-known
fixture in Chicago for more than a century now is The Cliff Dwellers Club. Founded in 1907 as the Attic Club, and
renamed two years later, the goal of the club was to bring together men engaged
in and supportive of the fine arts. John
Glessner was a member, as were leading artists, authors, and architects
including Louis Sullivan. For decades
the Club occupied quarters on the top floor of Orchestra Hall (now Symphony
Center); since 1996 they have been perched atop the office building at the
southwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Adams Street.

Forgotten to
many is the fact that the women of Chicago had a similar club that occupied
nearby rooms in the Fine Arts Building at 410 S. Michigan Avenue. This week marks the 100th
anniversary of the opening reception of the Cordon Club, of which Frances Glessner was
a member.

Caroline
Kirkland, the long-time society columnist who wrote under the name “Madame X” for
the Chicago Tribune (she was a close
friend of Frances Glessner) provided a good overview of the opening of the club
in her article dated Sunday October 24, 1915.

“The much discussed Cordon, the feminine
counterpart of the Cliff Dwellers, is to have its opening reception next
Thursday afternoon in its highly artistic rooms on the seventh floor of the
Fine Arts building. It is an interesting
and promising undertaking, purporting to be a club for purely social purposes
and consisting largely of women with some profession or definite calling in
life.

Under this caption Mrs. Hobart
Chatfield-Taylor is entered on the lists as a bookbinder, Mrs. Tiffany Blake as
an expert landscape gardener, Mrs. Robert McGann as a painter, and Miss Helen
Birch as a musical composer.

The membership is limited to 400. It is full now, with a long waiting list of
candidates. It is about evenly divided
between women who “do something” and those who lead merely domestic and social
lives. Perhaps the professional women
predominate.

The club aims to provide a pleasant
gathering place for the members and their friends where they can meet and have
luncheon, dinner, or afternoon tea. The
rooms are decorated in the style of the Italian renaissance, modified by modern
ideas of comfort and convenience.

In choosing this period of art as the
background for the club’s social life, its president, Miss Clara E. Laughlin,
was governed by the thought that in the time of the Italian renaissance women
played a larger, more important part in Italian life than ever before – or ever
since, one might safely say. They exercised
a sway in politics and the world of learning which makes this period to the
student one of the most interesting in history.

So, as far as possible, the ideas that
governed the furnishing of interiors at that time are carried out in the rooms
of the Cordon. They have a fine copy of
a cinque cento fireplace; also an excellent production of a medieval Italian
doorway is one of the features of the main club room. High, somber wainscoting is the background,
and the general effect is rich and harmonious.

The name was chosen because the French
word “cordon” means many strands woven together.

The club
maintained their quarters in the Fine Arts Building for decades. An article in the Chicago Tribune dated October 20, 1948 noted that the club rooms
had been recently redecorated:

“Coral predominates in the new color
scheme, and charcoal gray and mist green have been used for accent. Old furniture has been transformed with slip
covers, and several new pieces have been added, including mirrors, lamps, and
tables.”

The Cliff
Dwellers Club began admitting women many years ago, and in fact, the club has
had a woman president. So the idea of a
separate club just for women seems a bit foreign to many of us today. But in its day, the Cordon Club filled an
important niche in the social and artistic life of Chicago.

Note: The first president of the club, Miss Clara
E. Laughlin was a prominent writer, editor, and later a radio personality. Born in New York City in 1873 she lived most
of her life in Chicago, graduating from the Chicago High School in 1890. She wrote over three dozen books including
biographies of Sarah Bernhardt, Ferdinand Foch, and James Whitcomb Riley, as
well as her autobiography. In addition,
she wrote extensively for the Ladies Home
Journal. She died in 1941.

Monday, October 19, 2015

On Saturday
October 17, 2015, Glessner House Museum was presented with the President’s
Award for Stewardship from Landmarks Illinois during the annual Richard H.
Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards.
The award recognized five decades of stewardship for the building since
its rescue from demolition in 1966.

Landmarks
Illinois President Bonnie McDonald, in presenting award, noted how the museum
serves as a model for its work in restoration, preservation, and interpretation. Accepting the award on behalf of the museum
was William Tyre, Executive Director and Curator, whose acceptance speech is
presented in full below.

On behalf of the board of directors and the
staff of Glessner House Museum, I would like to thank the Richard H. Driehaus
Foundation and Landmarks Illinois for this award and the recognition of the
many people who have served as stewards of Glessner House for half a century.

Fifty years ago, Glessner house sat
vacant and for sale and there was a very real threat of demolition. In spite of its national significance and its
designation as a Chicago landmark, which at that time was purely honorary, the
building could easily have been lost to the wrecker’s ball.

But 1966 was also the year of passage for
the National Historic Preservation Act and it was in that year that a small
group of individuals came together with a dream not only to preserve the
building but also to preserve the architectural legacy of Chicago, which was
disappearing at an alarming rate at that time.

In the late 60s and early 70s, Glessner
House was truly at the heart of the preservation movement in Chicago and the
state. Within its walls could be found the
first offices of Landmarks Illinois, as well as those of the Chicago Chapter
AIA, Inland Architect, and the Chicago School of Architecture Foundation which
had been formed specifically to save the building. The concept for the first historic landmark
district in the city was born there as well, when the idea of preserving the
surrounding Prairie Avenue district was considered.

In time, the function of the building
changed and the idea of an accurately furnished historic house museum
evolved. Glessner descendants returned
not only furniture and decorative arts, but also an amazing archive of
materials to help interpret the house and its broader context within Chicago
history. Chicago’s oldest building, the
Clarke House Museum, came under our purview as well.

During all these years, countless
individuals have contributed to the success and vibrancy of the
institution. Dedicated volunteers have
done everything from coordinating fundraising events to clearing rubbish out of
the house and from organizing our archival collection to stuffing envelopes. Enthusiastic docents have given thousands of
tours as the “public face” of the museum, and numerous individuals and
foundations have stepped forward to provide financial support as members and
donors.

Talented craftsmen have lavished attention
on every detail of the house. They often
donate their talents because they feel it is a privilege to work on such a
significant structure. The board and
staff have shaped the vision for the institution from education and
interpretation to programming and restoration.

It has been my privilege every morning for
the past eight years to enter through the front doors of this extraordinary
building. Not a day goes by that I don’t
marvel at the architecture, the collection of decorative arts, and the remarkable
lives of the Glessner family. Nothing
gives me greater pleasure than sharing those treasures with our visitors. We look forward to sharing them with all of
you as we embark upon our next fifty years.
Thank you.

The award, which
is based on terra cotta ornament from the Methodist Book Concern building at
12-14 W. Washington St. (Harry Bergen Wheelock, architect, 1899) will soon be
placed on display in our visitor’s center for all to enjoy.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Exactly 125
years ago this week, Frances Glessner noted in her journal a trip to the Arnold
Arboretum in the Forest Hills section of Boston, while traveling from her
summer estate in New Hampshire back to Chicago.
Of the visit on October 13, 1890, she wrote:

“Yesterday morning (Isaac) Scott called
early and took Lettie and me to see the Arnold Arboretum. We went by train to Forest Hills and walked
over the Arboretum. It was most
interesting and delightful. The roads
are all beautifully laid in this suburb with a nice side walk, beautiful
winding roads, great trees and green grass.”

Arnold Arboretum
was established in 1872 when the executors of the estate of whaling merchant
James Arnold donated a portion of his estate to Harvard College for the
establishment and support of an arboretum.
Charles Sprague Sargent (1841-1927) was appointed the first director
the following year and served for 54 years, creating an institution that became
a model for other cities across the United States and the world.

Sargent was responsible for the 1,000 year
lease whereby Harvard retained ownership of the land, but the arboretum became
part of the Boston park system known as the “Emerald Necklace,” a seven-mile-long
network of parks and parkways laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted between 1878
and 1892. The design of the arboretum
itself was a result of Sargent working closely with Olmsted, who laid out the
general plan of paths and roads, and the groupings of plants.

The arboretum
covers 281 acres and includes nearly 15,000 accessioned plants, as well as an
herbarium collection of more than 1.3 million specimens and an important
research library containing in excess of 40,000 volumes. Two years after Frances Glessner’s visit, the
administration building was designed by Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow, Jr. of
the firm of Longfellow, Alden and Harlow.
Longfellow was working in the office of H. H. Richardson at the time the
Glessner house was designed, and was later a guest of the Glessners in their
Prairie Avenue home.

Forest Hills is
a part of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, noted for its hilly terrain
and wooded areas. The area south of Walk
Hill Street in particular is characterized by curving tree-lined streets laid
out in irregular patterns, the result of the gradual transformation of the area
from country estates to a “streetcar suburb.”
Forest Hills is surrounded by the three final “links” of the Emerald
Necklace – Arnold Arboretum, Arborway, and Franklin Park. In addition, it is home to the sprawling 275
acre Forest Hills Cemetery, considered one of the finest 19th
century rural cemeteries in the country.

A section of
Forest Hills, known as the Woodbourne Historic District, was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1999 and features a plan laid out in
part by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., who would have been attending Harvard as a
classmate of George Glessner at the time Frances Glessner visited the area in
1890.

Monday, October 5, 2015

Over the weekend
of September 18-19, 2015, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra launched its 125th
anniversary season. John and Frances
Glessner were deeply involved with the orchestra from the time of its inception
in 1891, raised considerable funds for the erection of Orchestra Hall in 1904,
and were generous supporters throughout their lifetimes. Theodore Thomas and Frederick Stock, the
first two music directors who led the symphony for more than 50 years, were
intimate friends.

John J. Glessner

Mayor Rahm
Emanuel issued a proclamation in August 2015 honoring the symphony for its 125th
anniversary. Appropriately, the
proclamation acknowledged the significant support provided by John Glessner in
the first decades of the symphony’s history.
In honor of the CSO 125th anniversary season, we reprint the proclamation
in its entirety below.

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR

CITY OF CHICAGO

RAHM EMANUEL

MAYOR

PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
performs its annual free Concert for Chicago in Millennium Park this year on
Friday, September 18, 2015, and the Symphony Ball gala at Symphony Center on
Saturday, September 19, 2015, as it launches its 125th Anniversary
season; and

WHEREAS the first meeting for the
incorporation of The Orchestral Association was held at the Chicago Club on
December 17, 1890, during which a board of five trustees was elected to serve
and a group of fifty-one businessmen, including Chicago pioneers Armour, Field,
Glessner, McCormick, Potter, Pullman, Ryerson, Sprague and Wacker volunteered
to serve as guarantors, each pledging their continued financial support; and

Theodore Thomas, Music Director, 1891-1905

WHEREAS Theodore Thomas, then the most
popular conductor in America, was engaged as the Orchestra’s first music
director and led the Chicago Orchestra’s first concerts at the Auditorium
Theatre on October 16 and 17, 1891, conducting music of Wagner, Beethoven,
Tchaikovsky, and Dvořák; and

Fundraising brochure for the new Orchestra Hall, 1903

WHEREAS Orchestra Hall, designed by CSO
trustee and Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham and completed in 1904 at a cost
of $750,000, saw its dedicatory concert, led by Thomas, on December 14 of that
year; and

Frederick Stock, Music Director, 1905-1942

Photo inscribed "To my best friends,Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Glessner"

WHEREAS the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is
a long-standing international cultural ambassador for Chicago and the United
States of America having completed 58 international tours, performing in 29
countries on five continents, and

WHEREAS in 2011 the CSO and the Chicago
Symphony Chorus’s recording of Verdi’s Requiem led by Maestro Muti won two Grammy
awards, and, to date, recordings by the CSO have earned a total of 62 Grammy
awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; and

WHEREAS the Chicago Symphony Orchestral Association
has been an active collaborator with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
and Special Events in the development and execution of a Cultural Plan for
Chicago, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Judson and Joyce Green Creative
Consultant, Yo-Yo Ma, and the CSO’s Negaunee Music Institute continually work to
share live classical music with all;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, RAHM EMANUEL, MAYOR OF
THE CITY OF CHICAGO, do hereby proclaim September 18-19, 2015 to be CHICAGO
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 125TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON OPENING WEEKEND
CELEBRATION and encourage all Chicagoans to participate.

About Glessner House Museum

Glessner House Museum engages diverse audiences in exploring urban life and design through the preservation and interpretation of the architecture of Henry Hobson Richardson and the historic home of John and Frances Glessner.

The Museum is open to visitors for guided tours Wednesday through Sunday at 11:30am, 1:00pm, and 2:30pm. Tours last approximately 75 minutes. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and students, and free for children ages 5 and under. Wednesdays are free for all.